


The Big 2-0

by ThePlotMurderer



Series: The Song of the Prince Trilogy [3]
Category: The Young and the Restless
Genre: Anal Sex, Biting, Charlie has resentments, Coming Out, Friends to Lovers, Hand Jobs, M/M, Mentioned Billy/Lily, Mentioned Billy/Reed, Nipple Play, Porn With Plot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-28
Updated: 2021-02-28
Packaged: 2021-03-12 17:34:03
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,331
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29763168
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThePlotMurderer/pseuds/ThePlotMurderer
Summary: Charlie takes Reed out for his 20th birthday, they both have a little more than they can handle and, in grand tradition, neither one of them can shut up about their problems. And, as they say, one thing leads to another...
Relationships: Reed Hellstrom/Charlie Ashby
Series: The Song of the Prince Trilogy [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2187909





	The Big 2-0

**Author's Note:**

> Consider this an informal ending to the loosely compiled trilogy of Reed-centric stories I've written over the years. Technically, it takes place in the near future, with Reed's post-SORAS birthday being in December 2001, that means he turns 20 at the end of this year!
> 
> You don't have to have read any of my earlier Reed-centric stories to get this, by the by. The only one that comes up is the first, and it's kinda all litigated here anyway.

Reed and Charlie rented a one-bedroom apartment in a five-story walkup within spitting distance of the D train station that would deposit you within spitting distance of NYU. The walkup was, likewise, within spitting distance of a hole-in-the-wall sports bar that Reed liked because it had an open mic night, and that Charlie liked because they occasionally showed lacrosse on ESPN-3.

The walk-up, as it happened, was _a_ walk-up of farther-than-spitting distance from the front door. Especially on the spitting-route from the hole-in-the-wall sports’ bar. _Especially_ after you’d been spitting a couple of things at that hole-in-the-wall sports’ bar.

“Aw, hell…wait, wait, I’ve got the keys here…”

“Wrong key, man.”

“I _know_ which key it is, Boneyver.”

“For the last goddamn time, Charlie, he’s _Bon Iver_ , and my sound is _nothing_ like his and…”

“There! _That_ key!” Charlie declared, fitting a key that was _not_ the key he’d first tried into the lock, “Try me again sometime.”

They entered the apartment, Reed flicking the light switch (this took a few attempts; his hand wasn’t exactly sure where the wall was) to expose their relatively Spartan accommodations.

“Welp,” Charlie shed his jacket, tossing it over the back of the mauve futon in the center of the room, “Happy birthday, Hellstrom.”

“Thanks again for taking me out, man. I didn’t think…”

“Oh, here we go…”

“Well, I kinda thought we’d be carded…”

“ _You_ might’ve been, but I’ve got some clout in this neighborhood. It comes from getting out every now and again.”

“I get out.”

“Nowhere worth going,” Charlie sank onto the futon with a sigh, “Shit,” he scratched at the back of his neck, “Want another beer?”

“You think you can handle it?”

“Says the dude who started giggling halfway into his whisky shower…”

“Whisky _sour_.”

“Whatever gay ass drink you ordered.”

Reed reddened, “It was _good_ ,” he thought about mentioning that he only _knew_ about the ‘gay ass drink’ from one of the assorted instances in his fallen youth when his Grandma had fallen off the wagon and staggered like Lady Godiva into a Newman event.

He retrieved two fresh bottles from the little fridge in short order, plopping them down on the coffee table in short order. Spontaneously, he began to giggle.

“What’s funny?”

“Nothing, just…” Reed shook his head, sitting down beside Charlie on the futon, “Just wondered what my Mom would say if she walked in and saw the bottles on the table…”

“Without the coasters,” Charlie spoke over him, “What, yours too?”

“The way she acted, you’d think we’d need a new table.”

“Pfft,” Charlie snorted, “Moms, man.”

There was a prolonged, ponderous silence. First Charlie, then Reed, cracked their bottles open. Reed considered raising their bottles in a toast or something. They’d done a few toasts at the bar, mostly to his birthday, once to Charlie’s sister Mattie (who was off improving herself at a considerably more prestigious academic institution several states away), once to Charlie’s fake-I.D. game, and once to Neil Young because Reed had been explaining all the ways ‘Helpless’ changed his life when he was 16.

Before Reed could think of a sufficient toast, however, Charlie lifted his head, “She, uh, called last night.”

“What, your Mom?” Charlie never talked about his family, except to talk about how badass his Uncle Devon was, which he was, but that was beside the point.

“Texted some pictures of the Christmas tree and shit, you know,” he shrugged, “Her and the dog and Devon and…Billy.”

Reed gave a start, “Right. Billy. Yeah, I…keep forgetting they’re a, uh, a thing now,” he hesitated, “So…the dog gets higher billing than Billy.”

“Look, man, I know he’s your ex-ex-ex-stepdad or whatever many times…”

“No, I get it,” Reed crossed his legs, “He’s not the easiest guy to like. Which is funny, because he’s _likable_ , but that’s not the same thing.”

“You can clock me if you like, Reed…”

“You know I can’t even if I wanted to.”

Charlie continued, undeterred, “I know he’s gonna fuck around with her and break her heart, because that’s what he does. And seeing her smiling with him like ‘Oh, Merry Christmas, I’m living my best life’…”

“You think he’s gonna hurt her?”

“He’s hurt your Mom how many times?”

Reed was quiet for a while; he took a drink of his beer, heaving a deep sigh, “The thing is, for a lot of my life, Billy kinda… _was_ my Dad, you know? And then for a lot of my life I…just never saw him. I was with _my_ Dad…” his voice faltered, “My Dad and Mac. And when things got bad, I started thinking about home…”

Charlie cocked an eyebrow and Reed smiled, abashed, “G.C. Kinda weird that I haven’t really _lived_ there in years and I still think of it as home.”

“Nah, it does that to you.”

“Well, I started putting Billy on a…pedestal, I guess. And then I came back to Genoa City and I moved back in with my Mom, and I…” he moistened his lips, “I dealt with Billy. He is…he’s a good guy, man.”

“So what? I’m being unfair?”

“No,” Reed met his eyes, “Because if you bet me money Billy and your mom will break up in the next year, I’d take the bet.”

Charlie took a drink of his own, “And what am I supposed to do with that? Just sit here and live?”

“You’re not gonna like the answer…”

“Answer me anyway.”

Reed sighed, “We’re 20, right?”

“Not if you check our I.D.’s,” Charlie smirked reluctantly, and Reed laughed despite himself.

“But we _are_. We’re adults, we’re supposed to be going out into the world and… _living_. Making our own choices, burning shit down…”

“Your hippie ass can do whatever it wants, but I’m not burning shit unless it burned me first.”

“Okay, fine. But you get it, right? We have lives outside of Genoa City. We have lives away from our parents. I don’t…” he paused, “I don’t want to end up stuck in an office on top of a tower arguing with a painting for the rest of my life. I’ve gotta trust my Mom can take care of herself.”

“No, I _know_ she can, but… Shit, man, ever since my Dad fucked around on her…”

“You don’t want her to be there again,” he nodded, “I get it. When my Dad started hitting my Mom…I’d grown _up_ seeing him do it to Mac…and even me…”

“Dude…”

“It’s fine,” he shrugged, “But I get what it means to want to _do_ something. To protect the people you care about,” he laughed bitterly, “And I get not knowing how the hell to feel about Billy Abbott.”

They were treading on treacherous ground now. Reed shouldn’t have said that. Maybe he _was_ bad at this whole ‘drunk’ thing. Considering his noble bloodline, was it really so surprising? Maybe being a messy drunk skipped a generation…

“Makes sense. You look at him like he’s your Dad, and then he goes around and…”

“I don’t,” Reed blurted.

“What?”

He felt his face heating up, but he didn’t care: he knew what he had to do. He _was_ 20, after all; an adult. And unless he’d decided to join the Newman tradition of career hypocrisy, he had to cut this loose once and for all.

“I don’t see him as my Dad. I haven’t, not for a while. Actually, uh, about the time I came back to G.C., I…had a crush on him.”

There was a long silence. Charlie blinked at him incredulously. Finally, he began to laugh.

“Okay, great,” said Reed, “Let it out of your system.”

“Nah, I…” Charlie shook his head, “I’m sorry, man, I just…I needed the laugh, bro…”

Reed cocked an eyebrow, “It…wasn’t a _joke_ , Charlie!”

Charlie’s laughter sputtered to an inelegant stop, “Wh-what?”

“Why the _hell_ would I _joke_ about having a crush on my stepdad!”

“Well…I dunno, man, it’s just…it sounds kinda like porn.”

“Gee, thanks, dude.”

“B-but wait, wait, Reed…” he narrowed his eyes, “So you’re, like, you’re…”

“Yes, Charlie,” said Reed flatly, “I am a homosexual.”

“No shit?”

“I…I’m not sure why I even said that, but…”

“Well, hey, man, you know I have no problems with gays.”

“Thanks for that,” he sighed, “Well, happy birthday to me, right? I came out to my roommate.”

“Well, hey, better you tell me now than I find out walking home at 3:00 in the morning finding you up to something with…”

“I wouldn’t worry about that.”

“You know, the more I think about it, the more it makes sense.”

“Okay, man, I’m only gonna let you get away with so much…”

“No, I mean, the guitar and…”

“Would you be surprised to learn that Bon Iver is straight?”

“But also…you never pay attention to girls. Which is nuts, because they’re always going out of their heads for you…”

“They do _not_!” Reed exclaimed, “Wait, _do_ they?”

“Christ, this is some unfair shit. I thought it was bad enough chicks dug the long-haired dude with the guitar over the big bad lacrosse star, but…”

“Well, now you’ll feel better because I’m not competition.”

“No,” Charlie folded his arms, “No, I guess not,” he considered, “So, what, you were boned up for _Billy_?”

“If you wanna be gross about it.”

“I don’t get it. What the _hell_ is it with him?”

“Does it help if I remind you I was _16_?”

“So you were crushing on him when he was with your Mom?”

“Pretty sure it was one of their separations. I kinda forget. What I _do_ remember is…I thought he was really cool.”

“You and my Mom should sit down for some wine and cheese or whatever shit.”

“I’ll be sure to bring coasters,” he leaned forward, clasping his hands together, “But, yeah, I thought he was cool and confident and…well, obviously, he was good-looking and stuff…”

Charlie snorted.

“He seemed perfect. And I guess I kinda resented my Mom for not sticking with him more.”

“Jesus, you _were_ in love with him. Abbott’s the biggest fuckboy in that town. Which is something, considering G.C.’s basically fuckboy city…”

“Can we maybe _not_ call my brother and sister’s Dad a fuckboy?”

“Oh, yeah. Dude, doesn’t that make it incest?”

“Well, it’s not like anything came of it,” Reed slowed down, “Except, well…a kiss.”

Charlie blinked, “You _kissed_ him?’

“It was over pretty fast, and we talked, and I kinda came out to him.”

“ _Kinda_?”

“And he promised not to tell my Mom and I don’t think he ever did. And…that was it.”

There was a silence, “So…your first kiss was with some pointy-headed 40-year-old dude?”

Reed rolled his eyes (not a good idea, it only made him feel woozier), “I thought you’d gotten the chuckles out of your system.”

“I don’t think it’s _funny_ ,” Charlie paused, “I think it’s sad.”

Reed bit his lip, “Well. Thanks, man.”

“No, I mean…you never kissed another guy?”

“Nope. Listen, you’re the first person I’ve told since that night.”

“Just Billy, then?”

“Just him.”

“Well, shit,” Charlie paused, “Just Billy.”

“I know, it’s embarrassing.”

“And he tossed you aside too?”

“You know it’s not the same thing.”

“Maybe not. Still…if you ask me, bro, anyone jerked around by Billy Abbott deserves better.”

“Better…man, it was just a kiss.”

“First kiss is supposed to be special.”

“It _was_ ,” Reed paused, “For weird reasons, but…”

“Still,” Charlie leaned back, “I think you were done dirty.”

Reed shrugged, “It’s over now anyway. I’m 20 now, right? An adult. And…I guess there’ll be other guys.”

“That’s the spirit. Still…20-years-old and your only kiss is Billy Abbott.”

“Alright, man, I get it, my first kiss was with a guy my Dad’s age. We can rest it now.”

“I just think it’s shitty to go into your twenties and _that’s_ your only kiss.”

“Well, what do you wanna do about it, Charlie? Kiss me?”

Immediately, he regretted the words. His heart skipped a beat in his chest as he shook his head, “S-sorry, I…I’m wasted, man, just pretend I didn’t…”

But Charlie had grown quiet, studying Reed intently, “What if I did?” he asked quietly.

Reed sighed, “Don’t rag on me, man. I didn’t mean to…”

“What? Am I not kissable or something?”

“You’re not _gay_.”

“And Billy was?”

“That was different.”

“No, Billy the cool, slick-ass Casanova can fuck with you, your mother, _and_ mine, and he can get away with it every damn time, but I guess he’s just special like that!”

“What, then?” Reed demanded, suddenly pissed off, “What…do you _want_ me to kiss you? Because, Charlie, I don’t know what the fuck’s gotten into you tonight, but…”

“Do you want Billy fucking Abbott to be the only dude you ever kiss?”

“I…hadn’t _planned_ on it, no.”

“Well, fine,” and Charlie kissed him. It was a forceful kiss, so much that Reed fell back against the cushions of the futon.

Charlie’s lips were firm and full, redolent with the stench of beer. But Reed didn’t think of pulling away, not once. The kiss was warm and forceful. He found himself sinking completely into it, reaching up to grab Charlie’s shoulders through the fabric of his shirt.

Charlie was leaning into him now, against him, practically on _top_ of him. He could feel Charlie’s fingers in his hair, moving desperately, determinedly through his curls as if looking for purchase.

Finally, in a brief spasm of self-awareness, Reed pulled back, breathing raggedly. He and Charlie looked into each other’s eyes. There was a long silence before Charlie said, “Well?”

Reed ran his tongue over his teeth, “Better than Billy.”

He kissed him back, sinking his fingers into the skin of his arms. Charlie let out a little gasp at the pressure and Reed felt his heart rocket into his mouth. And that wasn’t the only change in pressure he felt…

“Oh!” he gasped, pulling back, “I…I’m sorry.”

“What?” Charlie seemed to notice the pressure in Reed’s jeans for the first time, as it pressed up against his chest, “Oh.”

“We’re…we’re both pretty drunk, Charlie…I don’t want to take advantage…”

“Do you think I’m taking advantage?”

“Well…I’m pretty sure you weren’t _planning_ on making out with me.”

“No, but I’ve committed to it now, and I don’t drop shit once it’s started.”

“You wanted to make a point, and it’s been made. You…don’t want to do anything you regret.”

“Regret?” Charlie asked, “Shit, man, do you have _any_ self-esteem at all?”

“I’m a work in progress.”

“You wanna tell me that you’re gay and you’ve lived with me for a year and you never _once_ imagined what kissing me would be like?”

Reed reddened, “This feels like a trap.”

“Do you _want_ this or not, Reed?”

Reed hesitated, “D-don’t make me…”

“I’ll stop if you want. But I know I’m drunk, and I’m pissed, and for fuck’s sake, I _want_ to do something for someone,” his fingers hovered briefly just over the denim of Reed’s jeans. He felt a little surge go through him and hissed through his teeth.

“Is that a yes?”

Reed couldn’t object any further, “Do whatever the hell you want.”

Charlie needed no further prodding. His fingers moved skillfully, undoing Reed’s belt, threading it out from the loops of his jeans. Reed leaned forward, grabbing onto the hem of Charlie’s shirt. Their eyes met briefly, and Charlie nodded.

How often he’d seen his muscled body, sleek with sweat after a game, pectorals heaving with the strain of a victory well won. Reed had hated himself for thinking about it. Charlie was his roommate, his _friend_ , they didn’t know each other like that, and he was gross for even considering…

Charlie lowered the rim of Reed’s jeans, his fingers playing firmly, almost roughly, down the light spray of hair there.

“S-slowly…” Reed panted, “ _Slowly_ , Charlie.”

“I _am_ going slow.”

“Okay, this explains why you never bring the same girl home twice…”

“Fuck you, man.”

“Only if you do it right,” he felt bold, heady, a rash smile coming to his lips, “First time’s gotta be special, right?”

“Special,” Charlie nodded, “Right.”

With a surprising strength, he lifted Reed upright from the futon, in the same fluid motion lifting his shirt over his head. Reed let out a gasp for air, feeling his already loosened jeans collapsing around his ankles. He kicked his boots off, then his socks for good measure, feeling the sudden rush of cool air around him, shocking him, charging him…

“You’re so skinny, you know that?” Charlie asked.

“Trash talk get you off?”

“Nah,” he shook his head, “Just means I know how to handle you.”

They moved across the room, Reed feeling his back up against the wall, shaking the air out of him in a short, sweep gasp. He moved to undo Charlie’s cargo pants, lowering them slowly around his waist as Charlie pinned his arms to the wall at either side.

“You…” Reed faltered, “You’re really…”

“What?” Charlie looked right into his eyes, “Rough?”

“Beautiful,” he kissed him again, moving his lips down from his face to his throat, hovering over his Adam’s apple. He heard Charlie suck in breath, “Fuck…fuck, man…”

This didn’t seem to be an invitation to _stop_ , so Reed kept going, his lips working along Charlie’s chest, stopping tentatively over a nipple…

“Ah!” Charlie gasped, his hand slamming into the wall, inches from Reed’s face, “ _Fuck_ , Reed…”

Reed lifted his eyes to meet Charlie’s, and he shook his head, “G-go on.”

He did, feeling Charlie’s nipple harden beneath the lightest pressure from his tongue and his lips. Charlie was working on Reed’s boxers, teasing them down, reaching beneath the rim, his fingers finally finding purchase…

“O-oh!” Reed gasped at the pressure against his cock, “Charlie…”

“Hey,” with his other hand, he held Reed by the cheek, “Slow, right?”

“Slow,” he nodded, “I…I’ve waited this long. I can wait longer.”

Charlie worked Reed between his fingers, moving up and down the shaft from base to tip. Reed sucked in breath between his teeth, feeling his nails dig into the skin of Charlie’s back. He moved down, reaching beneath Charlie’s own boxers to cup his ass in his hands.

“Wait, wait…” Charlie paused, “Just so I get this straight… _I’m_ gonna go in, right?”

“ _Go in_?”

“You know what I mean!”

“I kinda figured that’s what we were doing when you slammed me into the wall, yeah.”

“Just checking.”

They moved backward through the door and into the bedroom, where two twin beds took up too much space in a room barely larger than a wall-in closet.

“I’m gonna push you,” Charlie whispered.

“Is it my bed at least?”

“Dude, it’s dark and I forget.”

Reed fell backward onto one bed or another, the springs creaking mightily under his weight which confirmed, at least, that it was _Charlie’s_ bed. Charlie himself was positioned over him, dominating Reed’s line of vision. He heard gentle thuds as Charlie kicked off his sneakers.

“C-Charlie…” Reed panted.

“Cold feet?”

“No…I wanted to thank you.”

“Reed?” Charlie prompted, “Stop it. I don’t pity fuck people. Now grab onto me.”

“Charlie…”

“ _Grab_ me.”

Charlie eased Reed upward. He could feel the length of his cock brushing his skin, between his legs, against his _own_ member.

 _It’s happening. It’s really happening. You’re really about to be_ …

“F-fuck!” he swore, grabbing onto Charlie’s shoulders, burying his face in the skin there, “Fuck, fuck…”

The pain was terrible and beautiful and so, so, _sweet_. Reed felt tears in his eyes, a scream welling up in his throat only cut off when he sank his teeth into Charlie’s shoulder.

“Ah! Ah, God…” Charlie gasped, “Fuckin’ _hell_ , man, you’re tight.”

Reed felt him moving inside him, lifting his eyes to see Charlie’s face, contorted into an expression of intense effort that sent him into some primal, feverish estrus. Grasping madly with his hand, he grabbed at Charlie’s wrist, guiding him back to his cock.

“It…it’s supposed to be a two-way gig,” he eyed him.

Charlie nodded, “R-right, right, I…”

“I’ll help,” and he guided him: one stroke, two, as Charlie pumped into him from behind. The pain had begun to give way to a beautiful, blissful soreness. Reed could feel the bed rocking beneath him and Charlie heaving on top. Sweat on their skin, tears on his face, spit from the bite still glistening on Charlie’s shoulder.

“R-Reed…” his name was soft and choked on Charlie’s lips, “Reed, I’m close.”

He nodded, “M-me too. I-I think. I…I’m not sure I can last.”

“Building up a while, huh?”

“You have no idea,” and he clapped down on Charlie’s ass.

Charlie let out a cry as he came, the hot rush hitting Reed so sharply that he couldn’t withstand it any longer, letting loose himself.

“Ah! Oh…” Charlie gasped, Reed’s spunk spraying messily over his front, “Oh God, oh shit…”

“S-sorry…” Reed panted, feeling the world slowly, hazily, come back into focus, “Got…carried away.”

“Reed?” Charlie breathed, lowering himself down on top of him, “Stop apologizing for shit.”

They lay side by side in the too-small bed for some time afterward. Reed figured he should probably clean up, but he felt if he got to his feet now, the whole thing would just dissolve like a predawn dream.

“So,” Charlie said at last, “Was I good?”

Reed laughed brokenly, “I…don’t exactly have a frame of reference.”

“Oh, you wanna get picky now?”

“No,” he shook his head, “You were… _really_ good.”

Charlie beamed, “You weren’t so bad yourself,” he paused, “That thing you did, with my…”

“What, you mean this?” he tweaked Charlie’s nipple and he practically jumped out of his skin.

“You’re a goddamn freak, you know that, right?”

“I, uh, watched a lot of porn in high school.”

“Okay, did _not_ need to hear that, but thanks.”

Reed looked up at the ceiling, “So…can I _thank_ you?”

“Usually, around this time, she tells me to leave the apartment, so a thank you would be pretty cool.”

“I don’t know what happened tonight.”

“Really? Because I think it left an impression…”

“I mean, I don’t know how we…got here.”

“I told you, Reed, I don’t pity fuck. I…wanted to do it.”

“And not just to stick it to Billy, right? Because…”

“Listen, I’m sure we’re all gonna need a lot of therapy one day, but…” he moistened his lips, “Look, Reed…I like you.”

Reed laughed, “I think I like you too. It’d help if you kept your side of the apartment neater, but…”

“That your way of getting out of cleaning _this_ shit up tomorrow?”

Reed shrugged, “I don’t know what this…means, though.”

“What’re you, girl?”

“Okay, wow, great, very progressive, Charlie.”

“I mean…what do you _think_ it means?”

“I just said, I don’t know!”

“Well…” he shrugged, “I don’t think _I’m_ gay.”

“Well, you just fucked me so profoundly I saw stars, so…”

“Maybe I’m, like, bi or something.”

“Well, whatever it is, keep up the good work.”

“If you’re asking what this makes _us_ , man…”

“What _does_ it make us? Or is that a ‘girl question’?”

“What do you want us to be?”

“Are we just gonna do this all night? Because I’m pretty tapped out.”

Charlie sighed, “Why don’t we say we’re two guys who like each other a lot?”

Reed smirked, “Is that what we’re going with?”

“ _Don’t_ you like me?”

“Those are, uh, _my_ teeth marks on your shoulder, right?”

Charlie ran his finger over the love bite, laughing, “You’re crazy, man.”

“And a little bit helpless,” Reed paused, a flighty idea coming into his mind, “The, uh, the song.”

“What, you’re gonna start singing?”

“The one I talked about at the bar?” he reminded him, “Tell me you were listening to me.”

“I mean, there was a game on…”

“Okay, yeah, well, the song really helped me growing up,” he paused, “ _There is a town in North Ontario/Dream, comfort, memories to spare/And in my mind, I still need a place to go_ …” his voice caught in his throat, “ _All my changes were there._ ”

“Is it insensitive if I don’t know what the hell that means?”

Reed smiled, “It’s about being trapped. Far from what’s…familiar, and what’s home. When I was just some kid being kicked around by my Dad, watching him and Mac tear each other apart, I imagined Genoa City was… _my_ town in North Ontario. And I guess all my changes _were_ there. But it wasn’t enough. I wasn’t really _free_ there. I mean, I figured out a lot about who I was and how I felt about people, but…”

“But crushing on Billy Abbott wasn’t much of a future?”

“It was not,” he paused, “For four years, I’ve been stuck. Scared of living my life. Scared of my family, scared of that goddamn podunk town. Where do I get off telling you not to fixate on what your mother’s up to? I’ve let my family dictate my entire life, even when they aren’t anywhere nearby. But now…”

“Dude, if you start singing…”

He didn’t sing, but pronounced the lyrics softly into the shadows, “ _Blue, blue windows behind the stars/Yellow moon on the rise/Big birds flying across the sky/Throwing shadows on our eyes…_ ”

He turned to Charlie, “I’m free. I’m 20-years-old, away from my family, and free,” he kissed him gently on the brow, not even thinking twice about it, “You’re free too.”

“That’s what matters, right?”

“For now, it’s the only thing that does.”

Charlie found his hand under the covers and squeezed it, “Happy birthday, Reed.”

“Happy…” Reed paused, “Well, happy something, Charlie.”

He slept the entire night through, completely at peace.


End file.
